We reported a couple days ago that Sony would never use rumble in the PS3, as it was a "last generation feature". However, in a recent press release, Sony announced that they had fixed their problems with Immersion, who's technology made it possible for Sony's earlier PlayStation's to have rumble. To make things even more interesting, Sony and Immersion are now business partners. Sony on this partnership:

We are very pleased to have reached a cooperative agreement with Immersion regarding the use of its advanced vibration technology (haptics technology). We look forward to working closely with them as we explore new and innovative ways to utilize this technology in PlayStation products.

Chances are that this means we'll see a rumble feature in the PS3...eventually.Source: 1Up

Considering rumble as last gen is utter rubbish, its simply another immersion factor thats come to be expected. Until we can literally put a VR visor on and walk around in an artificial world seeing, hearing, touching and smelling everything, rumble is about as good as it gets for the sence of feel aspect.